Introduction
Dubai can be characterized as one of the most modern and fastest-growing places across the globe. The realities of today’s world make the system of infrastructure significantly important, and that is, this sphere has already received the highest concern in Dubai. Proving people with advanced transport infrastructure is in priority for the government. The priority is evident as the government aims to improve the transport facilities and innovate roads to provide every citizen of the country with safe travel. To meet these objectives, the Road and Transport Authority was created in 2005 (Jacotine 2014). It seems significant to evaluate the work of the authority as it is related to the life of a human being and safety on the road.
Key Research Question and Objective
The fundamental purpose of the paper is to evaluate whether the work of the Road Transport Authority is effective and positively affects the death rate on the roads. The issue is significant to discuss as several people die on the road in Dubai because of high speed, inattentiveness, and impatience.
Literature Review
The chosen authority should be analyzed by using criteria suggested by the EFQM excellence model, Deming Prize, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards and the RADAR logic.
EFQM excellence model applies to every company. According to the last update of 2013, the framework is based on nine criteria, namely the category of enablers that is divided into five elements and the category of results that comprises five aspects (Porter 2015). The enabler criterion provides a better understanding of what the primary activity of the company, whereas the section of results shows the company’s achievements. The enabler criterion includes:
- Leadership;
- People;
- Strategy;
- Partnership and resources;
- Process, product, and service.
As for the results, the following aspects should be taken into consideration, namely:
- People results;
- Customer results;
- Society results;
- Business results.
According to the model, learning, creativity, and innovations are an integral part of the company’s development and achievement of the objectives.
The Deming Prize is an award that is provided to the companies that reflect the principles of Total Quality Management. It was established in the middle of the twentieth century (Evans, Lindsay, & Fragoso 2011). To get the award, the organization should meet the following criteria, namely:
- Customer-orientated service;
- The principles of TQM were implemented into the working process to achieve the goals and objectives of the company.
Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards is provided to every organization that meets the following criteria, namely:
- Appropriate leadership;
- Strategic planning;
- Customer and market orientation;
- Usage of data to support management;
- Focus on employees;
- Process management;
- Performance results (Besterfield 2011).
As for the RADAR logic, it should be stressed that this management tool provides the companies with a better understanding of how to reach continuous improvement. The organization should identify:
- Results (what is the goal?);
- Approaches (how to reach the goal?)
- Deploy approaches;
- Assess and refine (Jawadekar 2013).
Methodology
There are a lot of ways how data can be collected. Data mining is the research method that should be used for gathering and analyzing the information.
The major objective of the Road Transport Authority in the United Arab Emirates is to implement appropriate methods into practice to reduce the risk of deaths on the roads and improve the transportation system according to international standards. The Road Transport Authority is a significant, and essential element in the strategies of the United Arab Emirates as their primary concern is the innovation of the infrastructure and transportation. The Road Transport Authority was formed in 2005. It is divided into six agencies, namely:
- Marine;
- Public transport;
- Traffic and roads;
- Rail;
- Dubai Taxi;
- Licensing Agency.
Data Analysis
High rates of deaths on the roads can be explained by the fact that the majority of people drive too fast. According to the reports provided by Dubai Police, almost 90 percent of the car accidents that consequently lead to deaths or injuries could be omitted in case the drivers were more attentive and drove not so fast (Shahbandari 2015). To reduce the risk of accidents and secure drivers, the Road Transport Authority decided to implement speed sensors (Shahbandari 2015).
This fact positively affected the behavior of drivers on a road as the number of over-speeding fines decreased from 700 to 200. Although the issue regarding over-speed seems to demand an urgent solution, it is worth highlighting that the authorities should consider another problem that affects the death-rate on the road. In addition to high speed on the road, the majority of drivers in the United Arab Emirates are inattentive and impatient. Alan McGuinness states that:
Driver error is 99.9%. Most drivers do everything but drive, such as reading and sending texts, making and receiving phone calls, and eating their lunch. Even when they think they are concentrating, drivers’ sense of situational and spatial awareness is often very poor and leads to the ‘he came from nowhere’ argument (Jacotine 2014).
Although the issue regarding road safety is still actual for the United Arab Emirates in general, it should be stressed that the number of people killed on the road rapidly decreases (Ruiz 2015). Impressive investments aimed to increase public awareness concerning the problem of safety. According to the research, the number of accidents has already been reduced by 8% in comparison to the last year.
Moreover, Road Transport Authority builds new metro and highways that facilitate transportation. The organization has expanded the transportation network in Dubai by almost 55% (Shahbandari 2015). One of the objectives is to streamline traffic that will consequently lead to the reduction of road accidents. With the consideration of the above-stated information, it is evident that the work of the Road Transport Authority positively affects the situation on the roads in Dubai. The organization is effective as it provides secure and safe travel of citizens on the roads. Innovations and constant improvement are the guiding powers of the Road Transport Authority.
Discussion and Conclusions
The Road Transport Authority successfully reaches the stated objectives. However, it is essential to analyze the effectiveness of the organization using management tools.
By the EFQM excellence model, Road Transport Authority in Dubai has chosen the right way towards goal achievement. The enabler criterion includes:
- Leadership – the organization creates a prolific atmosphere for people to work achieve career progression (Shahbandari 2015). The leader realizes that a respectful attitude towards employees will foster positive changes;
- People – over 6,000 employees work for the organization, among them are over 600 women. The staff is responsible for the outstanding performance of the tasks.
- Strategy – decrease the death rate on the road and improve infrastructure;
- Partnership and resources – Network International, Pearson VUE, Michelin (Fletcher 2015).
- Process, product, and service – innovated process, high-quality service, product – safety.
As for the results, the following aspects should be taken into consideration, namely:
- People results – satisfied employees that eager to work;
- Customer results Safety improvement, the organization innovates the
- Society results in the transportation network, streamline traffic;
- Business results – attracting new partnerships and increasing revenue.
Road Transport Authority realizes the significance of creativity and innovations and acts by the strategies of the United Arab Emirates that are directed to improvement and progress in the sphere of IT technologies.
Also, the organization implements the principles of total quality management into the working process. Road Transport Authority is customer and employee orientated as they do their best to reduce the level of death rates on the roads and improve the transportation system for everyone to feel safe and comfortable.
Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards criteria are also met in Road Transport Authority.
- Leadership – decision-making process occurs on every level of the organization guided by the heads of the departments;
- Strategic planning involves mission, visions, values (safety, teamwork, responsibility, quality of service)
- Customer and market orientation – Road Transport Authority is centered on providing people with protection.
- Usage of data to support management – statistics is used to investigate the effectiveness of the organization;
- Focus on employees – the staff is provided with the prolific environment and career opportunities;
- Process management – the innovative approaches used while the working process aims to meet the objectives;
- Performance results – the fact that the number of people killed on the roads decreases proves that the Road Transport Authority performs successfully.
The RADAR logic suggests the evaluation of the effectiveness of the organization by four fundamental aspects, which are well-represented in Road Transport Authority:
- Results (the goal is to reduce the number of deaths on the roads and improve the transportations network);
- Approaches (educating the population, innovation of the infrastructure);
- Deploy approaches (implementation of speed sensors, providing seminars and workshops);
- Assess and refine (Road Transport Authority successfully performs goals. The decreasing statistics proves that the work of the organization beneficially affects the situation on the roads).
Recommendations
Although Road Transport Authority is successful in terms of achievement of their goals and objectives, it is worth highlighting that their work still can be improved. First and foremost, they deal with an impressive amount of information, that is, the business intelligence can be implemented in the working process to facilitate the information flood and be able to analyze the information appropriately.
However, it should be stated that the Road Transport Authority is an outstanding organization that implements the most up-to-date approaches and techniques into the working process and is guided by the fundamental strategies of the United Arab Emirates. Innovation and technological advances are the priority. Providing people with safety demands constant research and progress. As a result, the organization is focused on employees and people in general as their principal concern is to make sure that every person is protected and feels safe on the road.
Reference List
Besterfield, D 2011, Total quality management, 3rd ed, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Web.
Evans, J, Lindsay, W & Fragoso, F 2011, Managing for Quality and Performance Management, Cengage Learning, Mason, OH. Web.
Fletcher, D 2015, “Roads and Transport Authority of Dubai extends theory test partnership with Pearson VUE,” Roads and Transport Authority of Dubai (RTA). Web.
Jacotine, S 2014, “ANALYSIS: How the UAE is trying to reduce road deaths,” ANALYSIS: How the UAE is trying to reduce road deaths. Web.
Jawadekar, W 2013, Management information systems: text and cases: a global digital enterprise perspective, McGraw Hill Education, New Delhi, IN. Web.
Porter, L 2015, Assessing business excellence, Routledge, New York, NY. Web.
Ruiz, R 2015, “UAE road deaths sharply decreasing every year,” The National. Web.
Shahbandari, S 2015, “How RTA kept Dubai moving for 10 years,” Gulf News. Web.